ToughButterCup

You have one alternative to the above. Do nothing How was the request phrased ? - could / should / must / have to by [...date...] / failure to apply will [.... penalty...] . Could you copy and paste the key wording from the letter (email?) please. In the absence of a direct enforceable instruction that has significant financial consequence to you, I suggest you do absolutely nothing.

But nowt to brag about eh?

No, I don't know. But I now know that I'd just do it and wait for the sheety letter, lose that and then wait for the visit . In the meantime I'd have bought a Rhodesian Ridgeback , feed it every other week, put razor wire up round the field and then let Tiddles loose on anyone from the LPA. Cynical? Me? Just describing how our nextdoor neighbour approached exactly the same question. The difference.... ? His pond forms every time his open cesspit overflows. Why you can even see it in Google maps, but it's more detailed on Google Earth. I'm waiting with not quite baited breath for the next naughty child passerby to think it a wheeze to play near the cesspit, fall in. I have a life belt ready. I am Not Joking. Our pond raised zero interest from the LPA and less than zero interest from the BCOs.

Yes. I've looked in vain for the invoice - I'll have another go this afternoon when I get back .... I've gone through part of the 'outlet' list on the site website - and submitted my post code for Tyvek dealers locally - tells me to submit a valid post code (!) Using google maps history, I found this The red marker is the exact place, and that phone number might help you - fingers crossed Ian

Yes. Don't buy from Germany direct. Bought a pair of work trousers (Swedish I think) : my God what a fuss and massive delay. VAT rate - forgotten but it was noted on the Quittung (receipt). There's (was?) a place just north of Carlisle that imports (ed?) and stocks Tescon stuff - just off the M6 immediately after the second turn for Carlisle (old airfield) . I bought my Tescon things from there. I'll dig out our VAT return - the supplier might be listed there. Nice group of Polish lads running the office. Winder if they are still there..... PS The address is Kingsmoore Park Enterprise Area. - in haste - I'll have another look this p.m. Ian

Not just sealant as @nod says, but a thin hard foam pad as well. (Dig out the fitting instructions to double check - ours needed one) Bowl off the wall, fit the pad, re-mount the bowl, seal.

5m deep? .... rubbish. Contest that. What they may be talking about is a hibernaculum. For our (two) I cut down some branches and other brash, and with the digger blade, shoved the resultant mess into two corners of our land , and fenced them off with temporary HERAS. "They look good " said the eco-charlatan on one of his highly overpaid visits. The HERAS provides two things - 'status' and the inability to inspect too closely

Check that ..... architects aren't ecologists You can do so by looking at other similar planning applications in your locality. Look through the ecology reports. Purely for reference, I relate the following - this is first hand evidence. Some local farmers have been known to fill ponds with pig slurry - kills GCNs fell trees in which bats roost level (scrape the topsoil off) parts of fields near ponds fell trees with TPOs on them and just pay the fine if caught (felled at 08:30 on Sunday mornings) shoot bat roosts out (by paying their shoot members to do a bit of clay shooting very close by) and then have the temerity to moan in the local pub about the lack of wild-life Our ecologist behaved abysmally - almost as badly as one plumber we had the misfortune to meet. He lost an email telling us that we could proceed - and thus delayed the start of our build by 9 months. I paid half his bill: not a murmur from him about it. Happily now, our place is crawling with GCNs, (one in the kitchen when it rained hard) the bats are back in force and the swifts (gone now) have been fluttering about the place , though not nesting yet. Healthy head of rats : all need shooting (a cheap night-sight is brilliant for watching bats). Brown hares have started boxing again in the field next to us. Over the course of our build I excluded about 30 GCNs (more? ) , and accidentally killed about two or three (so that means probably about 10 ). The whole ecology build cost - I can't face writing the number here - made each newt worth several hundred pounds. Disproportionate and unreasonable. And I love all forms of newts.

Yes, it's expensive. I save up and almost never buy at full price. I dug the whole of our foul drainage by hand during lockdown ( 31 cu m) on my own. Groundworks quote - a couple of thousand. Cost to me zero £sd , and a marked improvement in fitness : used the laser every single day. Find me a spirit level level that will project a laser line (at the required incline) down the inside of a foul drain .... Yes you can do the job without one. But for a first-timer I kind of 'needed' the support. Now I would just do the job by eye and straight piece of 2 by 4 . BCO didn't even ask for evidence or check, or ask for photos. But, the job's right to within a mm or two. You can re-calibrate the laser - and I have done so once (I think) just before fitting the joists. Yes, I molly-coddle it: always keep it away from my children, always in its fabric case. And I'm annoyed to see that the newer ones have fewer features - laser is missing as is the micro-adjustment for un-level surfaces. Vorsprung durch weniger Technik? [ tr Progress by using less tech? ] I feel an outraged email on its way to Vonjy Rajakoba (Bosch UK Chief Exec)

Ah! Of course. 🤦‍♂️Thanks for the post . This is my go-to level because It has both a bubble and electronic feedback If set to electronic, you can hear when the item is level (the error can be given both in degrees or percentage) - you don't need to look at the level You can use the level upside down - the display automatically compensates The surface of the level allows you to write on it in pencil It has a built in laser (30mm above the base) (wish it had a laser both ends) It is magnetic It can be strapped to a straight edge - levelling a path today with a 3m straight edge ( 3 black slots for velcro straps provided) The level can be used as an inclinometer You can set the level to 'level' (or another value) when the level is placed on a slight incline (red turnbuckle on the RHS) You can 'hold' any value (hold button) allowing you to read the level when the viewport cannot be seen ( measure> hold > view) Yes, it's German, and you'd expect me to buy one. Haende hoch Fritz : I'm biased, I agree. I am sure that people like Zeiss, Leitz, or Hilti, or Dewalt do levels that are just as good. If someone drove a digger over mine, I'd have ordered another a few minutes after having stopped swearing. For a self builder, and for me, it's close to perfect Exactly.

If I find I'm constantly moving other people's never-been-used-in-a-million-years stuff, I now tell them that it's been put on Death Row. Photograph it and pin that on the notice board. The photo soon gets covered with other lists and stuff. They've got 6 months to move it. I allow one Appeal, but if it's still there a year after the Death Sentence .... it's gone. To date, not one complaint. They just buy other useless stuff I need to find storage for. Why is that a bloke's job eh? Why?

I still wince at the moment ( a year ago) I lost my temper and threw away stuff '.... we can't throw away ...' Not a peep out of anyone. If it ever gets to that I'll just say that I might have, but that I was in such pain - from my hip - that I couldn't remember. And go down the pub.

Its the shifting stuff around isn't it. And its shifting the same sheet around - never yours - always the children's A Level notes or some such rubbish (They're all in their 40s .... ) Told them their stuff is on Death Row. You ought to have heard the bleating....

Work harder ya lazy B_hubber !

Not in (my) Vaterland by chance? Vorsprung durch Bautechnik?

Welcome. I see you might be looking in my old stomping ground: Charlbury / Chipping Norton . Lovely place if you can ignore Clarkson's pervasive domineering rudeness - and the set that surround him - in Chippy ... You might want to think about Hook Norton - just outside Chippy - adds two minutes to the trip to Charlbury station - but they make Old Hooky there. As in .... Wassa Matter Lager-Boy: frightened you might taste summat ? Where have you built before ? I ask because we might learn from your experience - share it even?

Um.... you can penetrate the wall just below the level of the (say) toilet in the top floor can't you? Thats what everyone told us we should do.

Yes. No, if used carefully No idea. One of my tracks survived long enough with a couple of guides missing for me to get someone to change the track for me (because I'm not the HeMan @Russell griffiths is ..... bear in mind he grew up knowing how to change a track before he could change his trousers)

Have look at this : the render (white) butts up against the steels supporting our Wintergarden. I have a feeling (no more than that) where the steels meet the render (sand and cement coated with three layers of silicon-based paint), that I should fill the 'joint' with some form of mastic - a bit like putty in a window frame. I think I need to do that because the steels will expand and contract at different rates than the render - and so increase the likelihood of cracked render - and rusting steels. Mastic - yes or no ? If yes, can you suggest a trade name - or suggest an appropriate type of mastic please.

Design the battening such that the lowest batten supports some sort of valence (such as the one in the image above). We were supplied with a special glue (but I suspect many other generic mastics will do ) that sticks the membrane to the valence. I'll dig around and see if I can find a spare tube. It won't hurt to tape the membrane to the valence as well. I'll look in our stillage to see if we've some left over.

Ditto for us and our old cottage - and for a neighbour 3 doors down. I agree with @ETC above - unfortunately for you..... Just a thought... Is the bottom photo of the gable end? Is water getting through a gap between the roof tiles and the brick / render .... i.e. the leak isn't related to the chimney?

Welcome. To help you I did a search for solar pv on this site ... search bar > 'solar pv ' > everywhere and this is the result Enjoy yourself refining the results ... > + more search options Ian

They could do the grouting then @Jilly .....

So back to the question: architect or technologist? There is a place for each. Would members who ask this question in future please spend just a few minutes reading the many posts on the subject. Nice quiet fireside reading.

Am I right in suspecting that you are building on a slight slope? I ask because I had no idea how useful a gentle slope can be ... drainage, SUDS, garden, burying top spoil...